L300 4x4 from Europe

Hi all,

I am a French guy and not driving a mighty ram but a cousin. I found some months ago a L300 4x4 with a 2.0 G63B in Switzeland with a very low mileage (129.000 km -- I have the full service manual stamped). I bought it for cheap (as it had no French papers at that time) and started a restoration project. So far I have been working on the chassis and re-wiring / re-builiding tail lamps.The car is originally a RV but the camper rear was completely rotten and the previous owner removed it so for now I worked on building a wooden bed (cutting / welding new cross bars, doing some fiber glass for the box in the chassis, ...).

Here are some pics

http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...id=26617&stc=1

http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...id=26618&stc=1

http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...id=26619&stc=1

As regards to mechanics, I have only changed the spark plugs and air filter for now. It is running too rich (spark plugs were very "clogged") and idling is not fantastic. The plans are to install a weber, new headers and to get rid of all emission control system + secondary air system (reed valve is gone and difficult to find) ... I will have to do my homework as the last time i dealt with a carb was on my Moto Guzzi Le man converted to a cafe racer ... long time ago!

Welcome STL

Your fabrication skills look perfect :thumbup: Hope that truck is easy on gas..?

Hi and welcome to mightyram. Old school Mitsubishis end up in the most obscure places. The original L300/Delica body was actually pretty practical for a camper/off road vehicle. A shame it was cut up for a camper - but good that you are rescuing it! Getting rid of the Mikuni and the emissions junk and swapping it for a carb like a 38DGES will make a world of difference. Post pics and ask questions :thumbup:

Thanks to all for the welcome. I will certainly post pics as I progress and ask questions, in particular for the weber conversion!

My next step is to get the French papers, I need to pass a "controle technique" as we say here. Then I will work on the mechanic. My goal is to get the engine running well and to simplify everything to the maximum (I like the idea of no emssion control + weber carb + electric fuel pump). I will then work on the wheels and suspension and drive it. If it proves reliable, I will build a new camper on it.

Here is my first question: With what king of petrol do you preferably feed a G63B? In France and Europe, we have 2 types of petrol RON 95-E10 (10% bioethanol ) and the RON 98, both are unleaded. Should I aslo add some lead complement?

@Geezer: you mention a Weber 38DGES, I thought after my reading of the forum that people usually fit 32/36 carbs on the G63B. Could you point me to some reading/info?

The 32/36 was the standard go-to carb on Mitsubishi 4 cylinder engines from 2.0 - 2.6. The 38DGES is a more modern designed carb and is better at mid to top end power delivery, but at a sacrifice of some low torque and fuel economy. A few members have used the 38 and have been surprised at the all round performance improvements the slightly bigger carb has made. I would take into account where you'll be driving the L300 and factor it in (high elevation, lots of open freeway roads etc) I might be leaning more towards the 32/36 for your application.

Many thanks geezer! I plan to drive it back on dirt roads with bigger tyres so I may not want to lose some low torque ... I'll have to think about it.

Another question: my reed valve on the secondary air system is dead - so is the pipe from the air filter
http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...id=26649&stc=1

http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...id=26650&stc=1

As you can see there was a repair with tape from the previous owner but the pipe was fully obturated :

http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...id=26651&stc=1

I plan to eliminate the reed valve (with the plug on the pipe from the extractor) and plugging also the exit from the air filter box. Do I miss something and should I intervene elsewhere?

Thanks!

As stated above, I wanted to remove the secondary air system on the exhaust header:

http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...id=26759&stc=1

If that can help other, the thread is M16x150 and a standard oil plug can do the job:

http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...id=26760&stc=1

Here is how it looks:

http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...id=26758&stc=1

Yeesh, the gas scavenging in European spec Mitsubishis is awful. Headers for L300's are available and will yield good improvements in torque. Added bonus is eliminating the EGR junk. A Weber carb will benefit having a set of headers as part of the upgrade. Adapting the air intake for a Weber can be achieved by using the carb hat from a Rover that came equipped with the 32/36 (you should have more luck sourcing one in the EU). Don't use an open air filter on the Weber as it will cost you torque.

...and nice work :thumbup:

those little exhaust port tubes....
i just cut the tube about 3/4 inch from the fitting, hammer the tube ends flat then screw them back in
last "32/36" weber type carb I purchased a few years back to do a conversion on a friends nissan 4cyl pickup
It was actually a Holley 5200 2bbl progressive carb, that came stock on some usa chevy/ford/dodge 4 cyl ~1980ish.
Looked just like a 32/36, copy?
~$70 iirc on ebay remanufactured (like a new item in seal plastic wrap). Worked fine. I had to "adapt" it
I was surprised how much weber prices rose. Last conversion kit I got for toyota 1.8L ohv was $180
https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ZosAA...0S/s-l1600.jpg

A weber 32/36 is surely next on my list to remove all emission control related parts. I want to simplify the truck. I found that there is an original cab hat for the weber 32/36 but I will follow the rover track as well, thanks geezer!

As for the header, I found one in Australia. I'm thinking about it as well, but at least now I have a clean un-install of the pipe in the header. I didn't do anything at the pipe coming out of the air filter to the header. It is left open. Should I close/cap it?

Now I have passed the "Controle Technique" and the L300 is good to go on the road and I am doing the paper work to get a French number plate. Once I am ok with this I can throw a little more money into it. I drove back and forth to the Controle Technique Center and it drives really well (I also had to work on the temperature sensor beforehand as it was not working but now it is functional).

I didn't post as I was in the process of getting the paperwork for the L300. As it came from Swizterland and the L300 was never imported in France, that was a bit of a challenge. I finally had the paper. It is now register as a "classic car" as a RV with 5 seats (pretty happy about this as it should be its final destination -- a small oldschool overlander but this will take some time).

I can now get back to it.

While waiting for the paperwork, I came accross this:

https://www.holley.com/products/fuel...per_2300_2bbl/

and I was wondering if it would be interesting to give it a shot (although for trying and learning).

@geezer: I tried to send you an MP but your inbox is full.

The Holley sniper is expensive for what it is. The L300 could be converted to run a factory ECU and injection manifold (no idea what parts availability is like in Europe...) and it'll have an O2 sensor and control over ignition timing etc. No guesswork, but you will need the harness and a fuel pump. And, I'll sort out my inbox lol :thumbup:

Hi all,

I am nearly back on track. I was abroad for work but coming back home and the project in July. I am collecting parts while I am not there--sending them to friends in France :):

http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...id=27339&stc=1

This is a mix between MK1 and MK2 parts but I also need parts for my MK2 L300. By looking over the internet I also found a G63B engine complete and not too expensive delivered (but money is money!) and I was wondering about buying it for parts or a rebuild for the future and, of course, I have questions :) I read about motors being wide or narrow block, 6 or 7 bolts and I am not sure that I understand all the subtleties. My L300 is 4WD (1988) whereas the engine I have found is mounted on a L300 4x2 (both are RWD by design but with a Transfer box on mine) and I'm wondering if it would fit (not being able to look at my engine).

Here are a couple of clues;

- I see that 6 bolts on the flywheel of the engine I found
- On my engine 1988 Engine, I read 4G63 and on the engine I found G63B

Any ideas?

Many thanks in advance

4G63 and G63B are alternate designations for basically the same engine; I've seen some references that seem to suggest the B may indicate engine variants fitted with a jet-valve head.

Single cam is a G63B engine. They are a 6 bolt narrow block and share the same bottom end as the 1G (first generation) twin cam engine - main difference is the twin cam has provisions for oil squirters. The journals on the 6 bolt engine are bigger than the 7 bolt and bottom end components aren't interchangeable. It was not bright of Mitsubishi to fail to indicate the difference between the G63B and the 4G63. Subsequently it causes some confusion.

Thanks subGothius and Geezer, I have asked the seller to measure the distance between the two pins at the back to check whether this is a narrow block or not--which I suspect given your comment Geezer. The question now is do I have a narrow or a wide block on my 4x4 1988 L300? Again, given your comment Geezer, I suspect that I have a wide block ... right?

Nice little gem you have. I would suggest joining the Delica L300 and L400 guys as well. They are very knowledgeable.

https://delicaforum.com/index.php

Thx chargesx and yes I opened a thread on delicaforum as well as I am a L300 enthousiast (I own 2 and the "nice little gem"as you say is my fourth). The G63B/4G63 is however not very common (morst are 4D56 engines or 4G64 injected) and mightyram50 is a fantastic source of knowledge and goodwill for this engine!

Being a 4x4 it will be a wide block. This is about the only exception for the G63B engine. If you get in a bind and can't find a replacement engine, you can use the 4G64 and retrofit the carb and distributor as they are wide block.

Thx Geezer.

I received the metric measurements from the seller. I post them here as they maybe helpful for others too:

http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...id=27348&stc=1http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...id=27349&stc=1http://www.mightyram50.net/vbulletin...id=27350&stc=1

Removing the first 10/15mm at the left makes around 310 mm or the 12.5 inches that I found here and over the internet. This means that this is a narrow block (the egine comes from a 4x2 L300 so it is not surprising) and not a wide block (330mm or 13.25 inches) and because I own a 4x4 the engine won't fit.

Additional question: would the distributot from a narrow block fit in a wide block?

Distributors swap between all the 4G6X single cam engines. In fact, I've even used a points distributor from a 4G32 to run a G62B 12v Cyclone.

*addendum - the 4G64 is an injected engine and doesn't have the provision for the mechanical fuel pump in the head, so it would require an electric pump to supply the carb. An extra 400cc's would get it moving out of it's own way if this was the last resort for a new engine...